A RARE collection of rings worth £33,000 were snatched from an upmarket jewellery shop and gallery.

found at cambridge-news.co.uk 20 december 2006

The stunning rings were stolen from Primavera in King's Parade, Cambridge, yesterday (Tuesday, 19 December) by a thief with broken front teeth. One of the rings, a 22 carat oval diamond, was worth £19,000.

Jeremy Waller, the gallery's owner, said the thief had been into the shop to check out his target just hours before returning to steal the jewellery.

He said: "The man came in once, then returned and forced a member of staff to open the cabinet with these rings inside.

"The member of staff felt pressured into opening it. Then the thief did a very clever thing, dropping things as a distraction, before grabbing the rings."

All of the stolen rings were made by world renowned jeweller Malcolm Betts and the collection was the only one on sale in Britain.

Mr Waller said: "These are just unique pieces, in 18 carat gold with platinum sets and big diamonds - the most valuable had probably one of the biggest diamonds on sale in Cambridge, and they are all very beautiful.

"There was someone coming in an hour-and-a-half after the robbery wanting to buy the £19,000 ring for his partner, who had tried it on a week or two ago and fallen in love with it.

"We have very good CCTV coverage of the whole robbery, which we have handed over to the police, and we just hope they will be able to get him."

The thief, who struck just after 3pm, is in his mid-30s, has dark hair and was wearing a blue nylon top.

Scenes of crime officers were at the gallery yesterday (Tuesday, 19 December) afternoon searching for evidence and police are appealing for information about the incident.

Contact them on 0845 4564564, or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.

The theft follows other high-value robberies at Cambridge jewellers - raiders struck twice at Mappin & Webb, in Market Square, this summer, stealing watches worth tens of thousands of pounds.

Detectives linked the two robberies, which were carried out by a gang of men, believed to be Eastern European, who threatened staff with a gun and used a hammer to smash open display cases.

The gang took more than £140,000 worth in one of the raids alone.